for an in-depth look at the disgraced cyclist, watch "the world according to lance armstrong" here on cnn tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> fast-moving developments to tell you about in an ongoing hostage crisis in algeria involving americans and other westerners. there are reports the algerian military has launched a final assault on islamist militants holding people captive at a besieged gas facility in the sahara desert. we're hearing there are casualties. let's get to cnn senior international correspondent dan rivers. he's in london to to see bring us the latest. good morning. what can you tell us then about the reports of this final assault? >> reporter: well, this is being carried out by algerian state-run television saying that seven further victims have been recovered and 11 militants. now it's really difficult to grasp the total number of hostages that have been killed so far. we're trying to put it together, but they probably include japanese, brits, malasians, possibly some norwegians and other nationalities. it's very difficult to know the final numbers. but adding u